Specialty Food Association Announces 75 sofi Gold Award Finalists

NEW YORK  – The Specialty Food Association (SFA) unveiled the finalists for its 2026 sofi Awards, recognizing food products across 25 categories, including snacks, beverages, cheese and frozen. Announced in advance of Winter FancyFaire, scheduled for Jan. 11-13, 2026, these finalists serve as a forecast of trends that will shape the specialty food and beverage industry in the year ahead, said SFA.

Since 1972, the sofi Awards have honored products in the specialty food industry, with winners selected by a panel of industry buyers based on taste, ingredient quality and innovation.

This year, SFA introduced 25 Gold Award categories, including frozen and prepared foods, charcuterie meats, nonalcoholic beverages, savory snacks, baking mixes, condiments and more. 

Out of 1,284 applications, 75 Gold and three Outstanding Packaging Design finalists were selected, including:

Alcoholic Beverages 

• Bittermilk — Bourbon Barrel Aged Manhattan Mixer
• Bittermilk — Gingerbread Old Fashioned  Mixer
• Earl's Big Idea — Improved Whiskey Cocktail

Baking Ingredients 

• Dufour Pastry Kitchens — Gluten-Free All Butter Puff Pastry 
• Flour & Olive — Ginger Scratch Olive Oil Cake Mix 
• Top Seedz — Bake-At-Home Seed Crackers: Sea Salt 

Bread and Bakery 

• Clementine's Ice Cream Co. — Gooey Butter Cake 
• Lettieri & Co. — Monte Pollino Pinsa Crust
• Zucker's Bagels Products — Par Baked Sesame Bagels 

Cereals and Granola 

• Butterfly Bakery of Vermont — Mighty Tasty Granola 
• Ivy's Gourmet — Hazelnut Coffee Granola - Gluten Free
• Jamie's Farm — Chai Streusel Granola with Honey 

Charcuterie Meats 

• Elevation Charcuterie and Artisan Meats — Cecina 
• Fra' Mani Handcrafted Foods — Rosemary Ham 
• True Story Foods — True Story Heritage Breed Prosciutto 

Cheese 

• Dutch Cheese Makers Corp. — Artikaas Vintage Lot 36 Month Aged Gouda
• Marieke Gouda — Marieke Gouda Reserve Gouda Aged 1,000+ Days
• Vermont Creamery — Bijou 

Chocolate 

• A Priori Specialty Food & Distribution — Caputo’s Wild Jurua
• Hazy Fudge — Hazy Fudge Cabernet Alcohol Infused Fudge 
• KLG Candies — Griff's Pecan Toffee 

Condiments 

• Elephant Green Chili Chutney — Elephant Green Chili Chutney 
• New Canaan Farms — New Canaan Farms Olive Rosemary Dijon Mustard 
• Roland Foods — Roland Tamarind Concentrate 

Crackers and Crispbreads 

• Effie's Homemade — Effie’s Homemade Gruyere Biscuit 
• Joyfull Bakery — Joyfull Five Seed Parmesan Flats 
• Kayco — Craize Everything Toasted Snack Crackers 

Dairy and Eggs 

• AGA Smor — AGA Smor Creative Butter - Mushroom Butter 
• Oakridge Creamery — Oakridge Horchata Milk 
• Sodiaal International — Candia Professional Brittany Puff Pastry Butter 

Frozen and Prepared Foods 

• Lettieri & Co. — Monte Pollino Pizza Napoletana - Burrata 
• Lily Maude's — Lily Maude’s Double Chocolate Brownie Slow Churned Ice Cream 
• Fazlani Exports — Food Earth A Perfect Marriage Tomato Coconut Soup 

Grains, Pastas and Legumes 

• Brooklyn Delhi — Brooklyn Delhi Black Bean Butter Masala 
• Brooklyn Delhi — Brooklyn Delhi Chickpea Tikka Masala with Potatoes 
• Cafe Spice — Global Cuisine – Cafe Spice Coconut Rice 

Meats 

• Lottie's — Everyday Ground Pork Sausage 
• Meat the Veggies — Original Pulled Oxtail Meat 
• Texas Iberico — Texas Iberico Oak-Smoked Uncured Bacon

Non-Alcoholic Beverages 

• Red Jacket Orchards — Joe's NY Style Lemonade 
• EUROK — Mischief Brew, Piña Picante 
• RMBR Beverage — RMBR Kombucha

Nuts, Seeds, Trail Mix and Dried Fruits 

• Ackerley Balicike — Evie’s Texas Pecans Banana Bread
• Atalanta Corp. — Casa Flores Rosemary & Sea Salt Marcona Almonds 
• FoodMatch — Chili Popnuts Crunchy Corn Coated Peanuts - Chili Flavor

Oils and Vinegars 

• Bono USA — "BONO" Family Estate Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
• Manfredi Barbera & Figli S.p.A. — KALAT Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Acetum — Mazzetti - The Artistry Edition 

Pickles, Olives and Fermented Foods 

• Mama Lil's Peppers — Mama Lil’s Kick Butt Peppers in Oil 
• Musco Food Corp. — Vantia Grilled Italian Cipollini Onions 
• Pacific Pickle Works — Kimchi Meets Pickle 

Plant-Based Alternatives 

• Clementine's Ice Cream Co. — Peanut Butter Cup Frozen Dessert
• Clementine's Ice Cream Co. — Clementine’s Vegan Raspberry Push Pop 
• UMYUM Food — Za’atar & Spices Plant-Based Cashew Cheese 

Salsas and Dips 

• AAJI'S — Aaji’s Original Tomato Lonsa 
• Bitchin Sauce — Bitchin' Sauce Cilantro Chili 
• Nuovo Pasta Productions — Lemon Basil Pistachio Dip & Spread 

Sauces 

• Buddha Baby — Banyan Thai Panang Thai Curry Sauce 
• Fischer & Wieser Specialty Foods — Hot Peach & Honey Sauce 
• Wozz! Kitchen Creations — Middle Eastern Shawarma Sauce 

Savory Snacks 

• Milton's Craft Bakers — Milton’s Meat Lover's Trio Pizza Snack Bites 
• Beefy's Own — Beefy’s Own Sea Salt Beef Tallow Potato Chips 
• Oh So Healthy Corporation — OSH! Kimchi Crisps Cabbage & Natural Spices 

Seafood 

• A Priori Specialty Food & Distribution — Gueyu Mar Chargrilled Sardines Loins 
• Calvisius Caviar — Calvisius Essentia caviar 
• Seabear Smokehouse — Wild Alaskan Smoked Weathervane Sea Scallops 

Seasonings and Sweeteners 

• Madison Park Foods — CRIMBERA - Fused Haiku Blend - By Madison Park Foods
• Pom Pom Popcorn by Bessou — Bessou Furikake - Umami Sprinkle Seasoning 
• Airborne Honey USA — Airborne Pure New Zealand Clover Honey 

Spreads 

• Janet's Finest Compotes — Janet’s Finest Compotes Peach Berry Jalapeno Compote 
• RedCamper — Absinthe Orange Deliciousness 
• Umikah — Umikah Lime Yuzu Curd

Sweet Snacks 

• Southern Caramel — Coffee Caramel 
• Norwegian Baked — KnekkeGodis Sweet Treat Crispbread
• You're a Cookie — Oatmeal Blueberry Take and Bake Cookie Dough 

Outstanding Packaging Design Finalists

• Lady Babka — Lady Babka Cinnamon Mini Babka
• Angel Oak Smokehouse — Angel Oak Hot Smoked Salmon
• Knox & Dobson — Knox & Dobson Moscow Mule

“The sofi Awards set the tone for what we expect to see when it comes to innovative ideas in food and beverage, and Winter FancyFaire acts as a guidepost for what’s trending in the year ahead,” said Leana Salamah, SVP of marketing and communications at SFA. “Every finalist received top scores from our team of experienced buyers, who have invaluable insight into what’s hot in specialty food today and what will be popular in 2026. Congratulations to all of our finalists, and we look forward to revealing  all of the winners onsite at the show in January.”

sofi Award winners will be unveiled at Winter FancyFaire to a live audience of buyers, investors, press, manufacturers and more on Jan. 12 from 4-6 p.m. following SFA’s “Trend of the Year” announcement Jan. 10. Five Grand Honors winners will be announced alongside 25 Gold Awards that will be presented as the top-scoring product in each category. Finalist products will be available for select attendees to sample at the First Taste Table onsite.

Winter FancyFaire is open to qualified members of the specialty food trade, industry affiliates and media. To learn more about the event, book exhibit space or register to attend, visit www.winterfancyfaire.com.